After 10 yrs... upgrade from 2004 to 2013 Prius Plug in

I did the same about 6 months ago "smugeling" a base PiP into Tennessee from Carson Toyota in California. Same years and colors but with only 108,000 miles on the 2004. (I did check Richmond, VA dealers, but CA beat them by more than the shipping cost.)

Though I miss some of the lost stoarage spaces, the Gen III's are an overall improvement.

The navigation provides three view options, 2D heading up, 2D North up, and 3D. Instead of looking straing down, the 3D view is looking at an angle from above and behind the "car." Check your manual on how to enable it. It might be different on the Advanced than the base.

 

congrats! cb is the best color. all the best!

 

Welcome to the site!


Kidding of course. You've been around here longer than I've known what a Prius is.

 

Trust me- the plug-in isn't a gimmick!
I traded in my 2012 Prius Five for a 2012 PIP in Oct of 2012.
I owned the Five for 8 months- my lifetime mpg was 50.3mpg.
Driving the same route, and the same work schedule with the PIP, my lowest monthly mpg has been 84mpg (Feb 2013) , my highest was 117mpg (for August 2013).
We're talking serious mpg improvement over the standard Prius...

 

>I owned the Five for 8 months- my lifetime mpg was 50.3mpg.

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How many miles between charging?​

 

The car is designed to use both stored (electrical) energy and gasoline to get high MPG, not to function as an EV beyond short trips. You can get the high MPG two ways: just recharge it and then drive it in Hybrid Mode; the car will use the extra energy as needed to boost economy. Recharge again as needed. You can also manually select EV mode when in cities and other low-speed, level-road situations, and the average between the EV and hybrid driving will be surprisingly high. To get the best MPG (and more heat inside) in Winter, block just the lower section of the grille with pipe wrap, leaving the upper section open to cool the inverter. The engine will run less often and your economy will improve.

One more tip: when on a long downhill stretch of road, switch to EV mode, and the energy recovered will be allocated to EV range, boosting that range.

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Congrats !

Amazing testimonial on the Prius 10 years over 200,000 miles and no major problems. Bought another.

 

as do i.

 

Plugin is no gimmick.

From my full year of data, my EV efficiency beat Leaf and HV efficiency beat a regular Prius, for my driving condition.

132 MPGe electric fuel economy.
56 MPG gas fuel economy.

PiP cut down my gas consumption by nearly half. I also reduced my carbon footprint.

 

This technique is a gimmick to get big EV numbers on the display, but doesn't do anything for fuel economy. It essentially causes the energy produced by the ICE to climb the hill to be allocated to EV when regeneration recovers it on the way down.

 

That technique can be useful at time and is definitely not a gimmick. It allows for higher speed gliding than you could get in HV. It also allows the skillful hypermiler to choose when he or she think the EV is used best. In most scenarios you are right though.

 

You are quite right that you want to be in EV mode so you can go faster without the ICE kicking in. I think the maximum speed in HV mode is around 32MPH, but 62MPH in EV mode. And wanting to control better when the battery vs the ICE is used to use the optimal power source in a given situation. What I was thinking of as a "gimmick" is using this technique to game the EV miles display.

 

That would be an accurate description if you didn't actually get more EV range by using downhills to add miles. Since you do in fact get more EV range, then it still isn't a "gimmick." Give up, already! ;-)

 

The "Five" is a regular (non-plug-in) Prius. No plug-in charging capability.

 

I'm not ready to give up. If you are using energy from the ICE to climb a hill, and then on the downhill converting the potential energy to electric charge in the battery, and then using that charge in EV mode, in my opinion it's dishonest to say you have extended your EV range. All you have done is charge the battery with the ICE in a roundabout way and gotten a bigger EV number on the display.

 

PiP regen brakes are superior. Not only it can store more, it can also take it at a faster rate. This benefit from bigger battery isn't a gimmick.

I think the discussion above is wether if the extra brake energy would be wasted (in pad) or spnning the ICE in a regular Prius but not in PiP.

 

Sorry to hear about the accident. It's odd no one has the advanced model with the technology package available. It's been mentioned that it will become available but I wonder what the hold up is?

Sounds like you made out well and no injuries is always a plus. All the best going forward.